Sometimes situations occur when children become owners or co-owners of property by inheriting it or receiving it as a gift.
When the need arises to dispose of such a property, for instance, sell or exchange it, then a consent is needed from parents or legal representatives (custodian or trustees, adoptive parents, foster parents), as well as permit from wardship and guardianship authorities.
In the material we will describe how to execute such transactions and what are the underlying conditions.
Under what conditions one can dispose of a property owned by a minor child
A minor owner of an apartment cannot dispose of it (sell, exchange) at his/her own discretion until the age of 18.
If a child is under 14 years old then transactions on his/her behalf are executed by parents or legal representatives. A parent (representative) signs a contract with a note made that he/she acts on behalf of a minor child.
A child in the age from 14 to 18 years old can make transactions with the consent from parents and other legal representatives. Thus, a child signs a contract but one of the parents (representatives) also appends a signature with a note made that he/she gives consent for the transaction.
If there are no parents, then grandmothers, grandfathers, elder brothers/sister can act on behalf of a child.
At the same time, when a minor child is a co-owner or a sole owner, a permit from wardship and guardianship authorities is needed to perform any actions with property. A permit is issued for the following types of transactions:
- sale;
- exchange;
- pledging;
- leasing.
Permit from a wardship and guardianship authority is not needed if a minor child lives in a property but is not its owner or does not own a part of it.
Emancipation of minor children
In certain cases, an underage who reached 16 years old can make transactions at his/her own discretion. A child is recognized as legally capable, if s/he works under an employment agreement or performs entrepreneurial activities with the consent from legal representatives. Emancipation applies upon the decision made by a wardship and guardianship authority with the consent from legal representatives or if there is no such a consent, then under court decision.
How to get a permit for transaction
A permit to dispose of property of a minor child has the form of an abstract issued by wardship and guardianship authorities.
To get it, one needs to use an online service:
Issuance of abstracts for disposal of property owned by minor children and execution of inheritance for minor children Order
When submitting an online application, it should be signed with a digital signature and the following documents should be enclosed:
- application for disposal of property owned by a minor child in an electronic format;
- an electronic copy of birth certificate (if there is no data in Civil Registry Office IS because a child was born outside of the Republic of Kazakhstan);
- an electronic copy of a notarized consent from a spouse or consent from a child`s legal representative living apart (electronic copies of documents certifying absence of custody over a child by one of the parents: death certificate, court decision on deprivation of paternal rights/ paternal rights restriction/ recognition as legally incapable (partially capable), declaration of death, etc.);
- an electronic copy of certificate of right to inheritance by operation of law (from notary public) (in case of getting an inheritance by operation of law);
- electronic copies of documents certifying availability of property;
- an electronic copy of a child`s (children`s) opinion (upon reaching the age of ten).
After considering the submitted documents as well as reasons of a parent (representative) on the necessity to make a transaction, a wardship and guardianship authority provides either a permit or substantiated refusal within 3 working days.
In what cases a refusal to issue a permit can happen?
A wardship and guardianship authority has a right to refuse issuing a permit in the following cases:
- it was established that the provided documents and data in them are unreliable;
- non-compliance of a service recipient with the requirements set forth by the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan as of December 27, 1994 and Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan as of March 30, 2012 No. 382 “On approval of the Rules for execution of wardship and guardianship functions”;
- execution of alienation transactions, including those related to exchanging or gifting a property owned by an orphan; child under 14 years old left without parents or conclusion of suretyship contract, transactions to lease a property to uncompensated use or pledge it; transactions that entail refusal from title for inheritance;
- lack of consent of the service recipient, provided in accordance with Article 8 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Personal Data and their Protection", for access to restricted personal data required for the provision of public services.
